Professional Sweetheart: 2/16/24

A Skull in the Desert

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I finally cracked the new Criterion Collection Blu-ray of John Sayles’ Lone Star (1996) the other night. It was a first time watch for me, a very embarrassing fact considering I do think of myself as a Sayles fan. But after rewatching Brother From Another Planet for the podcast the other week, I decided to return to his full filmography to fill in a gap or two. (I know what you’re thinking — I’m already on a Pasolini deep dive. Do I even have the bandwidth?! This is unfortunately how my attention span works. Don’t worry, Pier — there’s still time for you.) After my second trip to Marfa in the fall of last year, I was reminded of how much I love movies that take place in Texas. Especially the more desolate parts, the southern and western regions. Lone Star takes place in a small South Texas border town and those geographic lines are a huge theme of the film. But it’s also about the ways in which people of different races and generations intersect, too. Chris Cooper plays a local police officer named Sam Deeds, the progeny of the famous lawman Buddy Deeds (played in flashback by Matthew McConaughey). Sam is brought in to solve the cold case murder of the notorious Sheriff Charlie Wade (a very menacing Kris Kristofferson), a racist scumbag who terrorized the town’s Black and Mexican residents for years while forcing his partners (including Buddy) to adopt his tactics, or at least turn a blind eye. In Sam’s attempt to solve the mystery, he starts finding out more about his father and the ways in which the townspeople he interacts with regularly are deeply interconnected, including his high school girlfriend-turned-teacher Pilar (the gorgeous, soulful Elizabeth Peña, who died way too young in my opinion). The topics brought up in the film are incredibly prescient, from immigration and indigenous histories, to generational trauma and American identity. There’s even a scene where teachers are arguing in a meeting with parents in the community about what’s now considered critical race theory. Lone Star also features a fantastic ensemble cast which includes Joe Morton, Ron Canada, and a very memorable cameo from Frances McDormand who plays possibly the world’s biggest football fan. In short, it’s a wonderful film — so glad I finally saw it! And not for nothing, the special features on the Criterion disc are really great, including a really insightful, entertaining interview with Sayles and Gregory Nava, the director of El Norte (1983). Plus, right after I finished, I was inspired to order the Matewan (1987) Blu-ray that Criterion also did, which now I cannot wait to watch again. (How are there not more of Sayles’ movies on CC, by the way? I think there’s just the two…hopefully that will change?!)

And I’ll leave you with this: because I truly believe horniness can co-exist with serious film analysis, I will once again stand by what I said on that BFAP episode of I Saw What You Did which is that John Sayles is a hot daddy of epic proportions. I would totally stalk him on Our Time if he were single and on that app.

GOOD NIGHT (and see you next week),

Millie

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Films Mentioned:

• Lone Star (1996, John Sayles)

• Brother From Another Planet (1984, John Sayles)

• El Norte (1983, Gregory Nava)

• Matewan (1987, John Sayles

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